Smithsonian Institution's 2021 Federal Climate Adaptation Plan

The Smithsonian Institution's 2021 Federal Climate Adaptation Plan is a national cross-sectoral action plan of the United States. Its main objectives are to enable agencies to coordinate and consolidate climate change public outreach activities taking place in units, research centers, and other areas of the Institution; advance the Smithsonian’s robust national- and global scale programs in science and the humanities to increase and diffuse knowledge on the causes and consequences of climate change past, present, and future as it relates to the Earth system; biodiversity, ecological relationships, and ecosystem stability; as well as health impacts, equity, and justice, and human activities that influence and respond to climate change; Protect the national collections from increasingly extreme weather through long-term planning and preparedness training, while reducing or not increasing our energy reliance. Mitigate the risks to collections from extreme weather, including flooding, and reduce energy demand for collections storage by moving collections, or improving storage enclosures and spaces to make them food safe, energy efficient, and protected from extreme weather events; Prepare staff for responding to extreme weather events via collections emergency preparedness training; to review and refine existing, or establish new, policies, procedures, and staff education programs that promote consideration of prevailing environmental and social concerns for enhancing climate adaptive and climate resilient practices by employees, not only while at work but also in their personal endeavors; Take action to reduce the impacts of flooding identified across the Smithsonian at vulnerable facilities located on the National Mall, National Zoological Park (NZP) Rock Creek, New York City, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), and Smithsonian locations in Florida. These will include continuing and new initiatives that are addressed in Master Planning, pre-project planning, feasibility studies, and project designs.